


Red Rover

by WolfVenom



Series: Hunting Hound Dogs (CoD:Ghosts) [2]
Category: Call of Duty (Video Games)
Genre: Abandonment, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Bad Ending, Bittersweet, Blood and Gore, Brainwashing, Character Death, Dark, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Disturbing Themes, Emetophobia, Ethical Dilemmas, Explicit Language, Graphic Description, Guilt, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, M/M, Major Character Injury, Memory Alteration, Mercy Killing, Mistakes, Moral Ambiguity, Non-Graphic Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Third Person, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Regret, Reminiscing, Sad, Suicidal Thoughts, Torture, Trauma, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Violence, War, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:06:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25893352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfVenom/pseuds/WolfVenom
Summary: Guilt was a gnawing, gluttonous thing. Guilt did not discriminate between the victim or the victor; she consumed and destroyed and murdered, an insatiable beast bred only in the minds of man and man alone.It was the soul-crushing weight of defeat, in and of itself.[Part 2 of HHD; a re-telling of Ghost Killer directly from Keegan's POV]
Relationships: Keegan P. Russ/Logan Walker
Series: Hunting Hound Dogs (CoD:Ghosts) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1334800
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	Red Rover

**Author's Note:**

> its been over a year! welcome back everyone!!! im sorry this story is so so late, but what with quarantine i was too stressed to even scrounge up the energy to finish editing my existing drafts. this is all spat out in brief bursts at 3 am and unedited, so be mindful haha. thank you to all my readers and your BELOVED comments on Ghost Killer, reading them keeps me warm on chilly days~ i enjoy reader feedback, so let me know what you think or what youd like to see/think is gonna happen!

When he received the call, Keegan couldn’t find the energy to panic. Shock clawed through his body, locking his limbs up tight and his finger could no longer pull the trigger, target practice abruptly shoved to the darkest recesses of his mind in favour of grief. He was a soldier, schooled in these exact scenarios but his heart wouldn’t get the message, stuck between hammering against his ribs and flat out stopping all together. But he responded anyway, affirmed the message Merrick relayed with pity in his voice with a tone equally as hollow, uncaring of the fact that they must see him as some heartless monster with the monotone response. 

The small campfire back at his temporary hideout seemed to crackle ten times as loud in the solitude of the forest, holed up on his own personal vendetta mission in some shabby old cabin outside the border of Ukraine, or whatever remained of it. No matter how many times he told himself he left to finish a job, that he was needed more out here than with the front-liners, guilt niggled against the back of his skull incessantly, reminding him that no, he didn’t leave on some vigilante mission by his lonesome, but rather he was terrified of how comfortable he had grown with his teammates, the devotion he couldn’t bear reciprocating out of a deep-seated fear of rejection and causing harm to the one he adored above all. He needed a break. Time to himself to reflect on his life and actions thus far, sort out his priorities and return to Logan a better man, a better equipped lover who knew what kind of relationship he desired and exactly how to get it.

Yet Merrick’s voice still echoed furiously inside his head, a repeating mantra that the silence surrounding him only multiplied tenfold. 

“ _ Logan has been captured by Rorke and the Federalist opposition. We don’t know where he is.” _

Keegan brought his shin down hard against the nearest solid object, which just so happened to turn out to be a concrete column to his left. The pain rattled his entire being, shattering his stunned facade into fine dust at his feet, tearing a frustrated scream from his throat. Branches shook above him as nocturnal avian life took off in response to his outburst, but Keegan ignored their alarmed squalls and glared at the ground beneath his boots, thoughts racing miles a minute and all the brake lines severed. 

The channel frequency he shared privately with Merrick gave a bout of static, the man no doubt attempting to establish contact on the subject, but the sniper refused it all, ripping the radio from his tac vest and throwing it violently against the brick walls before him. His breathing was picking up speed, sinuses stinging in that tell-tale way Keegan despised so greatly. 

Heaving back his grief, the soldier strapped his gun against his bag and slung the rucksack over his shoulder, grinding the frazzled embers of his campfire out with his foot and erasing his remaining tracks in muted efficiency. 

Everything was on autopilot from there. 

Keegan grabbed the next train to the nearest airport and caught a borderline illegal flight back to America, skies blurring past and faces drowning alongside the voices they belonged to. The Ghost found no room left in his body for the energy he needed to care, frankly, and achingly numb was far better than tortuously anguished. 

_ Logan, captured by Rorke… _

_ Logan, Logan, Logan…  _

After the grueling trip to Headquarters, Keegan noticed the tangled webs of despair threaded throughout the base right off the bat. Hesh was slouched head down in the infirmary ward when he arrived; a shadow following the erratic north winds. The lack of their missing best man was evident everywhere you looked: there were no laughs -- hardly any conversation -- and Merrick mirrored Hesh’s look of woe when Keegan approached the man, eyes hardened and shoulders held stoically erect. 

Keegan felt his skin crawling beneath his heavy gear, a growing knot of culpability reaching up towards his tongue and repressing any sound. Guilt and rage locked horns behind his rib cage in a never ending tussle that clogged the arteries feeding his heart. 

He already knew what Merrick was going to say before the man even turned his pitied gaze on the wounded Ghost, frail and emotionally unstable but outwardly calm, collected. 

“ _ I’m sorry Keegan, we can’t spare the time nor resources to find him… We don’t even have a clue of where they could’ve taken him. I’ve already been through this with Hesh, please don’t make me do it again...”  _ came the pleading tone. Keegan’s eyes hardened, leather gloves creaking under the strain of his newly formed fists. He nodded, a taut jerk of his chin.

“Copy that, sir… Awaiting mission orders.”

Merrick pursed his lips and sighed, giving the Ghost before him one final look before turning and leading the duo through the dreary halls towards the briefing room. Hesh, usually raring to go by this point even with an injury, was understandably absent, grieving in medical by his pained lonesome. Mother, then father, then brother. What next would the world take from him, he wondered. 

Riley was curled up in the corner atop a miserable looking dog bed scavenged from one of the houses ODIN took out, fully patched up sans gear. His ears were drooped, eyes downcast and sad in a way that reopened the stinging cut all over again. Keegan kneeled next to the dog, who uncharacteristically remained still albeit the jitter of his nose, and accepted the little comfort Keegan offered with a gentle hand on his scruff. 

The K9 whined, snapping Keegan’s attention from a now lecturing Merrick to Riley once more. His head was perked up, tongue wetting his chops and staring up into his soul. Between them sparked a shared connection, one of loss. Riley was the Walker brothers’ dogs, but in that moment Keegan felt just as revered by the dog. They were bound by loss, one of the hardest glues. Under Riley’s paws Keegan finally noticed a small, tacky looking stuffed animal. 

Peering down, it appeared at first to be a miniature stuffed dog, handmade with the delicate hand of affection. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a little black fox, decades old yet obviously immaculately cared for despite the inevitable wear and tear. Curious, having never seen this toy in Riley’s box before, Keegan flipped over the little name tag wrapped around the fox’s ear and a cold wave sluiced down his spine. 

‘ _ Mr. Fumbles - if lost return to Logan Walker’.  _

Briefly in his mind he was reminded of a night long ago spent beneath the stars with his brethren, sharing humorous tales and embarrassing stories. He remembered Elias with a hand on his belly, laughing right from the gut at Hesh’s broad recount of Logan and his infamous stuffed animal, sewn by his mother. The elder Walker brother teased his younger endlessly, telling Kick and Merrick and Keegan all about him and his infatuation with a toy that, in his opinion, any teenage boy going on sixteen should’ve outgrown. But Logan held onto that thing like it was gold, well into his twenties where Hesh then said he hadn’t seen the damn thing in months. Logan, red-faced and pouty, had pressed more firmly into Keegan’s shoulder and crossed his arms in a huff, turning away and refusing to answer to the accusations. Keegan thought it cute. He too had memorable things stashed away well hidden, it wasn’t a weakness, or un-manly. 

Logan had definitely still kept the toy on base while he was on duty, but no one had caught hide or hair of it despite Hesh and Kick’s numerous attempts. Keegan felt his breath grow weak in his lungs, staring down at the little fox lovingly ensnared in Riley’s big paws.

With a shuddering exhale, he checked the opposite side of the tag. 

  
  


‘ _ For Riley. Look after them both, buddy. You’re a good dog.’ _

  
  


The door swung shut behind him. 

**Author's Note:**

> this first chapter is a prologue of sorts to the main meat of the story. its very tame compared to what will inevitably be one rough, horrific journey... let me know of any errors you may find! i will definitely be going back and editing this later, once ive had some sleep!


End file.
